Category Archives: Cold War

Richard Nixon becomes first U.S president to visit Moscow 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (May 22 1972)

1970s, Cold War, U.S. Presidents


Video: 'Nixon in Moscow - 1972 | Movietone Moment | 22 May 2020)'

(Monday, May 22, 1972, 3:55 p.m. Moscow Standard Time; during the Moscow Summit (1972), part of the Cold War) — Richard M. Nixon became the first United States President to visit Moscow (and only the second President, after Franklin D. Roosevelt, to visit the Soviet Union), as he and Henry Kissinger arrived this afternoon to begin a summit meeting with Leonid I. Brezhnev, the Secretary General of the Communist party. Continue reading Richard Nixon becomes first U.S president to visit Moscow 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (May 22 1972) →

North Vietnamese Army captures South Vietnamese province and city of Quang Tri 50 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (May 1 1972)

1970s, Cold War, Vietnam War


Video: 'The battle for Quang Tri Vietnam April 1972: from the archive'

(Monday, May 1, 1972, afternoon local time; in the First Battle of Quang Tri, during the Easter Offensive, part of the Vietnam War, the Cold War and the Indochina Wars) — The South Vietnamese abandoned Quang Tri, their northernmost province capital, today, giving the advancing North Vietnamese their biggest prize so far in their month-old Easter Offensive invasion. Continue reading North Vietnamese Army captures South Vietnamese province and city of Quang Tri 50 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (May 1 1972) →

Millions of Americans watch first live television broadcast of a nuclear bomb test 70 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Apr 22 1952)

1950s, Cold War


Video: 'Tumbler Charlie: April 22, 1952'

(Tuesday, April 22, 1952, 9:30:10 a.m. PST; during the Cold War) — Millions of Americans watched on live television today as a 31-kiloton Mark 4 nuclear bomb was dropped from a B-50 Superfortress in the Yucca Flat region of the Nevada. Continue reading Millions of Americans watch first live television broadcast of a nuclear bomb test 70 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Apr 22 1952) →

North Vietnamese regulars launch Easter Offensive 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Mar 30 1972)

1970s, Cold War, Vietnam War


Video: 'North Vietnamese Army, NVA 1972 Easter Invasion'

(Thursday, March 30, 1972, noon Saigon Standard Time; during the Vietnam War, part of the Indochina Wars and the Cold War) — The Easter Offensive, a military campaign conducted by the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN, the regular army of North Vietnam) against the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN, the regular army of South Vietnam) and the United States military, began today when an intense artillery barrage rained down on the northernmost ARVN outposts in Quang Tri Province. Continue reading North Vietnamese regulars launch Easter Offensive 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Mar 30 1972) →

Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong hosts U.S. President Richard Nixon in Beijing 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Feb 21 1972)

1970s, Cold War, U.S. Presidents


Video: 'History: Feb 1972 President Nixon to China (4/6) 1972/2/21' (Nixon meets with Mao at 6:29)

(Monday, February 21, 1972, 2:50-3:55 p.m. China Standard Time; during the 1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China and the Cold War) — Three hours and 20 minutes after he arrived in Beijing, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon’s week-long summit conference in China quickly reached a high point today with a surprise meeting with Chairman Mao Zedong, the enshrined leader of the Communist rulers of China. Continue reading Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong hosts U.S. President Richard Nixon in Beijing 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Feb 21 1972) →

U.S. President Richard Nixon begins historic visit to People’s Republic of China as he arrives in Beijing 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Feb 21 1972)

1970s, Cold War, U.S. Presidents


Video: 'Nixon in China: The Week that Changed the World' (Feb. 21, 1972, at 1:51)

(Monday, February 21, 1972, 11:30 a.m. China Standard Time; during the 1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China and the Cold War) — President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, arrived in Beijing this morning to mark the end of a generation of hostility between the United States and China and to begin a new but still undefined relationship between the most powerful (the U.S.) and the most populous (China) of nations on Earth.. Continue reading U.S. President Richard Nixon begins historic visit to People’s Republic of China as he arrives in Beijing 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Feb 21 1972) →

Captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers exchanged for Soviet spy in Berlin 60 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Feb 10 1962)

1960s, Cold War


Video: '10th February 1962: Captured U-2 spy plane pilot Gary Powers freed in a prisoner exchange'

(Saturday, February 10, 1962, 8:52 a.m. Central European Time; during the 1960 U-2 incident, part of the Cold War) — The Soviet Union exchanged captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers in a well publicized spy swap for Soviet KGB Colonel Vilyam Fisher (aka Rudolf Abel), a Soviet colonel who was caught by the FBI and put in jail for espionage, today in Berlin, at the Glienicke Bridge between Wannsee and Potsdam. Continue reading Captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers exchanged for Soviet spy in Berlin 60 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Feb 10 1962) →

Mikhail Gorbachev, last Soviet leader, resigns 30 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Dec 25 1991)

1990s, Cold War, U.S. Presidents


Video: '25/12/1991 Mikhail Gorbachev Resignation Speech'

(Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25, 1991, 7:00 p.m. Eastern European Time; during the Dissolution of the Soviet Union; part of the Cold War and the Revolutions of 1989) — Mikhail Gorbachev, the trailblazer of the Soviet Union’s retreat from the Cold War and the spark for the democratic reforms that ended 70 years of Communist tyranny, told a weary, anxious nation tonight that he was resigning as president and closing out the union. Continue reading Mikhail Gorbachev, last Soviet leader, resigns 30 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Dec 25 1991) →

11 former Soviet republics declare end to USSR, form commonwealth 30 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Dec 21 1991)

1990s, Cold War


Video: 'ABC Nightly News December 21 1991 w/Commercials WHAS 11 Louisville KY'

(Saturday, December 21, 1991; during the Dissolution of the Soviet Union; part of the Cold War and the Revolutions of 1989) — Eleven of the 12 former republics of the Soviet Union formally constituted themselves today as the Commonwealth of Independent States, proclaiming the death of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Continue reading 11 former Soviet republics declare end to USSR, form commonwealth 30 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Dec 21 1991) →

Polish government declares martial law in crackdown on Solidarity labor movement 40 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Dec 13 1981)

1980s, Cold War


Video: 'Solidarity Poland 1981' (martial law declared in Poland at 9:28)

(Sunday, December 13, 1981, 12:00 midnight Central European Time; during Martial law in Poland, part of the Soviet reaction to the Polish crisis of 1980–1981) — Poland’s new military leaders issued a decree of martial law today, drastically restricting civil rights and suspending the operations of the Solidarity union. Continue reading Polish government declares martial law in crackdown on Solidarity labor movement 40 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Dec 13 1981) →